Trekking tour to Su Gorropu (Urzulei and Orgosolo)

Su Gorropu Gorge (Urzulei and Orgosolo)

Hiking in Gorropu certainly makes for one of the most fascinating outdoor experiences in Sardinia. Shaped by erosion, this massive canyon runs across the wilderness of Supramonte of Urzulei and Orgosolo.

Imagine 500 meters of high rocky walls surrounding you, in a secret place full of streamlets and lakes, huge white boulders, small caves, rare animals and flowers.

Feel the sensation of peace that absolute stillness will give you! Here, the fall of a stone will be echoing for hundreds of meters.

There you are entering the Gorropu Gorge, a magical place where time appears to have stopped and the rest of the world feels far away.

Our trekking tour to Su Gorropu Gorge

• Hiking amongst high rocky walls
• Rare specimens of flora and fauna
• Amazing location for photography

The one-day trekking will start from Orosei or Dorgali where a regular state highway will lead us to a dirt road ending up in a car park where we will leave our 4×4 Land Rovers behind in order to set off on our hiking route.

We will ford the river called Rio Flumineddu on foot with our backpacks on and will enter a forest of straw-berry trees. Large holm oaks and dense Mediterranean shrubs run along the walls of Mount Oddeu up to the arresting entrance of the rocky ravine.

The first outlook will truly astound you. Almost clouding the skies with its walls towering majestic and steep, the Gorropu Gorge is Italy’s deepest and one of the deepest in Europe.

Small waterfalls purling and swallows chirping will be our soundtrack. Perfect time for photography!

Walking past the first large boulders, we will be on the lookout for the purple Aquilegia Nuragica plant, a species numbering very few world specimens yet endemic to the Gorropu Canyon.

In contrast, the odds are high that you might spot golden eagles silhouetted in pairs against the skies of the Supramonte where they reign supreme. As a bonus, you could even chance upon small flocks of mouflons capering amid the limestone rocks or high up the ridges.

By the caves and potholes found along the path, we will be likely to bump into their natural inhabitants: the Speleomantes of Supramonte and the Sardinian Euproctus, a 14 cm long amphibian. The latter’s presence is a real rarity and yet another European record associated to the Gorropu Gorge.

We will see many age-old specimens of mock privets (Phillyrea Latifolia) and yews (Taxus Baccata) buttressing the slopes of the gorge.

Descending deeper in the canyon, our hike will prove increasingly demanding as we will often have to mus-cle our way between the great boulders dragged off by the Flumineddu river for many thousands of years.

After a couple of hours of wildlife observation and photography, a well-deserved break with our packed lunches at the ready!

The subsequent part of our hike will see us double back our route to the car park for a comfortable return trip to Orosei.